The present invention relates generally to hand exercisers and in particular the present invention relates to a therapeutic squeeze ball.
Hand exercisers are available in a variety of styles and designs. In general hand exercisers are intended to allow a user to contract the fingers of a hand to exercise the muscles of the hand. Exercising the hand can be useful for physical therapy to strengthening the hand after an injury has been sustained. Hand exercisers can also be helpful in relieving stress.
Squeeze balls are a type of hand exerciser that provides a ball that can be squeezed by contracting fingers around the ball. Different types of squeeze balls have been produced. One type of squeeze ball used small beads, sand or beans contained in a fabric or rubber-type shell. The contents of these balls are not very resilient and do not provide an appealing texture. An alternate ball construction used a silicon material contained in a latex or rubber shell. Often two latex shells are used to prevent oil from the silicon material from leaking. Although fabric material can be desired because of its xe2x80x9cfeelxe2x80x9d, silicon material in fabric shells are typically not used because oil from the silicon material can leak through the weaving of the fabric. Also, it is common for people to have allergic reactions to latex material.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a silicon based squeeze ball that has a fabric-type exterior shell.
The above-mentioned problems with squeeze balls and other problems are addressed by the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
In one embodiment, a hand exerciser comprises a silicon gel core, a porous fabric shell covering an exterior surface of the silicon gel core, and a non-porous urethane lining located between the porous fabric shell and the silicon gel core.
In another embodiment, a hand exerciser comprises a silicon diffused polyurethane core, a segmented polyurethane fabric shell covering an exterior surface of the silicon diffused polyurethane core, and a thermo plastic urethane layer adhered to the segmented polyurethane fabric and located between the segmented polyurethane fabric shell and the silicon diffused polyurethane core.
In yet another embodiment, a method of making a hand exerciser comprises forming a silicon gel core, adhering a non-porous urethane lining to a porous fabric to form a shell material, fabricating the shell material into a shell having a shape substantially identical to an exterior surface of the silicon gel core, and encasing the silicon gel core in the shell.
An alternate method of making a hand exerciser comprises molding a diffused polyurethane material to form a spherical core, adhering a thermo plastic urethane layer to a segmented polyurethane fabric to form a shell material, die cutting the shell material into a plurality of shell sub-components, sewing the plurality of shell sub-components together to form a shell having a spherical shape, and encasing the spherical core in the shell.